POLITICS

A question of survival

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti 

The peril of marrying the country's second and third largest political forces merely for electoral gain last April decisively prevented the country from having two separate political ideologies to choose between. For opting to say that, the critics were dubbed as anti United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) elements and therefore anti proletariat.

Such position was seen as a desire to perpetuate capitalistic rule for all time and the detractors were called lackeys of the ruling class out to prevent the resurgence of the working class, the commoners.

Erosion

But it is not the critics who are finding fault with the coalition today, but constituent partners themselves who are falling by the wayside as the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) resorts to its customary populist measures causing serious erosion in the traditional base of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). They finally had to meet President Kumaratunga en masse and lament over their plight and the rapid loss of political ground experienced by them.

A key constituent party in the UPFA, the JVP on May 27 issued what was seen as the first warning to the PA leadership over breaching the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached between them.

Chief among the grouses was the non-appointment of a high-powered committee to evaluate appointments to public institutions and to approve government policy, which is yet to be created, after two months of coming in to government.

The other is President Kumaratunga's unilateral appointments to public institutions which in certain cases impinged upon the MoU. The agreement between the parties clearly states that defeated candidates would not be appointed to any top-level government posts in a demonstration of committed and honest governance.

However, JVP General Secretary, Tilvin Silva last Sunday wrote to Kumaratunga questioning some of the stances adopted by the PA leadership. The four-paged letter was seen as an expression of 'political disenchantment' which the JVP also sought to place in the public domain and to support a self-corrective course of action by Kumaratunga.

The letter was a follow up to JVP's politburo meeting on Thursday (27) where grassroot members reportedly accused the leaders of making the party a mere appendage of the PA and toeing the line at a time when the PA was fast emerging as the sole decision maker in the Freedom Alliance.

The following day, May 28, at a special meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, the JVP collective expressed their displeasure over Kumaratunga's style of governance that did not appear to resonate with the wishes of the people who voted them to power.

Complaints

According to highly placed UPFA sources, the JVP has bitterly complained to the Premier that the special committee headed by UPFA President Nandana Gunathilleke and its General Secretary, Susil Premajayanth had not met even once after coming to office though appointments were being continuously made. A key JVP member told The Sunday Leader that it was pathetic to watch those who fled the country before the election coming back to claim high posts, a charge flatly denied by the PA.

In heaping the blame on the PA, the JVP does understand the need to win the people over and have them supporting their various stances. Despite Kumaratunga's disapproval for making a coalition problem a public secret, the JVP believes that its political survival depends on such 'acts of transparency.' Among the appointments they oppose are those of Ariyaseela Wickremanayaka as chairman, Livestock Board and Shalitha Wijesundera as a director, Civil Aviation Authority. Wijesundera is a defeated Gampaha District candidate.

Explaining further, a key JVPer said that the party's position is that even if the PA did not care about the commitments made to the people during elections, the JVP certainly did. They claim being embarrassed by the continued bad governing practices, as the people would soon view the new government, despite the Marxists' presence as an extension of the UNF.

"It is important to demonstrate that we are different and our comments, at last after forming the alliance are different," said the source, adding that Kumaratunga is able to appoint only the secretaries to ministries by virtue of powers granted by the constitution.

On Monday (31), Kumaratunga decided to hold a crisis meeting with the coalition partner with a view to ironing out differences, but the lady apparently threw caution to the wind as she sought to belittle the allegations levelled against the PA leadership.

Discussions

During a five hour long discussion which was delayed by two hours due to the President's delay in arrival, the PA leader demanded to know what the JVP's actual problem was, something that did not go down well with the JVP members who felt that they have been slighted enough by making them wait, in addition to appear nonchalant over the criticisms raised against her.

However, there was a silver lining in the discussion that took place. The two parties discussed the possibilities of commencing peace talks, an issue on which both parties reached the greater understanding.

Kumaratunga, according to sources had said that she had no intention of continuing with the 'adhoc' peace process initiated by the UNF, but only wished to "consider" the ISGA proposals put forward by the LTTE for purposes of talks. The JVP that publicly opposes the ISGA and went on protest marches against it being considered the basis of future discussions on peace had many queries about the model of discussions the PA leader was considering.

While the discussions were in progress, Presidential Adviser Kusumsiri Balapatabendi and Peace Secretariat Chief, Jayantha Dhanapala were both ushered in to further explain the matter. Dhanapala, an internationally famous UN diplomat who is now heading the government's Peace Secretariat provided a brief outline of how the peace talks are likely to be structured.

The Norwegian role in the peace initiative once more came under attack by the Marxists who felt that there was a need to draw Oslo's attention to the spate of killings by the Tigers in the recent past and the enormous truce violations that have taken place during the past two years. Unhappy with Norway's singular role as " peace maker," the reds have proposed that a 'co-facilitator' be also introduced and the two countries proposed were India and Finland, with opinion being tilted in India's favour, though a final decision was not taken.

But it is not the JVP's willingness to fall in line with the peace process that became a revelation, but its willingness to accept an expanding cabinet of ministers. The stunning backtracking took place just a day after making a hue and cry about the cabinet being 37, which in terms of the MoU should be confined to 35.

Kumaratunga stood her ground and claimed that both the President and Prime Minister are included in a cabinet by virtue of being constitutionally guaranteed positions and therefore should be excluded when counting the 35 ministers. Further, she argued with the Marxists that as two ministers have already resigned to contest the forthcoming provincial council elections as chief ministerial candidates of the UPFA, the problem no longer arose.

Strangely, the JVP opted to concede the need for expansion in order to have the Ceylon Worker's Congress (CWC) on board. Kumaratunga seemed determined to show her parliamentary majority on Tuesday, June 8 when she invited CWC Leader Arumugam Thondaman for a discussion. The JVP, having shouted until they were blue in their faces to get the cabinet to settle on 35 members alone, probably agreed thereby putting the UPFA's survival and its need to prove a majority in the House before commitments made to the people.

However, the JVP did win the first round with regard to the appointment of the promised high-powered committee to approve policies and make recommendations for high state posts - one of its main demands.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader, a senior JVP member criticised that the nonstarter committee was a huge political embarrassment to the JVP and its functioning would ensure smooth sailing for the government that is very necessary as provincial hustings draw near. "We promised that there would be transparency and suitability when making appointments to key public posts. We have selected heads for departments and other institutions that come under JVP-held ministries, but waited without making them simply to honour our previous commitment of adhering to a process that we ourselves advocated. We had to take the flak as constituent partners while having done no wrong," he noted.

Besides President Kumaratunga, Maithripala Sirisena, Mangala Samaraweera, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Tilvin Silva, Nandana Gunathilleke and Wimal Weerawansa attended the meeting.

Going public

But Kumaratunga, prior to the meeting, did her politically retaliatory act by responding to the JVP General Secretary in a curt note in which she claimed that she saw no reason for the JVP to address her through the media. She nevertheless released her own response to the media. But the JVP's stance is that the people had a right to know what was ailing the new government and the fact that the Marxists were only keen on having Kumaratunga mend her political ways.

Kumaratunga's letter to Silva, sought to impress the point that as a coalition, the respective parties would inevitably encounter difficulties from time to time, though such did not merit going public with it.

Openly baiting, the Chief Executive has snidely thanked Tilvin Silva for his advice, but wanted more specifics on what caused such extensive worries to the Marxist party to send her a four-paged open letter.

Kumaratunga, responding to the criticism that virtually all SLFP members were holding some portfolio or the other in the UPFA, had claimed that they all fell within the 35 limit and therefore the particular complaint was unfounded.

Just hours before Kumaratunga met her political allies, she also met up with the SLFP organisers at President's House where they had nothing but a litany of political woes to place before her and to question the prudence of the formation of an alliance that seems to be adversely impacting the blue camp.

She arrived late, and the meeting was in full swing, chaired by Mahinda Rajapakse and Maithripala Sirisena who gave a sympathetic air to their collective complaints.

Kumaratunga, in all fairness to her was not the most eager to form the alliance, which was advocated by a pro-JVP group within the SLFP ranks. She delayed its formation and even warned the party ranks that the SLFP would be eventually made to suffer if this political alliance is formed.

At the organisers' meeting, Kumaratunga had to deal with the barrage of issues ranging from the SLFP organisers' inability to campaign at village level due to the stiff competition offered by the JVP and to lack of funds.

A former deputy chairman of committees and former Kegalle parliamentarian, Lalith Dissanayake has fired that the JVP was attempting to take control of the entire coalition.

He had reportedly claimed that as a lawyer, he had education and felt he had a contribution to make in some capacity and condemned the JVP for pressurising the government not to appoint defeated candidates to top posts.

He was supported by many others including a former Kandy District MP Wilson Kuruppuarachchi, Ananda Dissanayake and members representing Raja Rata who felt that they had no leg to stand on due to the JVP's political machinery.

"We have dug our own political graves," Kuruppuarachchi has reportedly claimed, a statement many agreed on as they explained their difficulties.

The President has advised the SLFP organisers to get the JVP members support for development of the areas and to work as a group and not with individual scorecards in hand. "The problem is largely your own reluctance," she had declared.

Many organisers have complained that they could not match the JVP's strategy in campaigning. They have bitterly complained that the JVP was making an issue of the preference warfare as the Marxists campaigned for the party and not for individual candidates which made matters worse for the SLFP candidates who have to compete amongst themselves to secure a slot.

"There is no way to prevent the JVP from gaining a majority in each council and the south would be a one horse race," many told her, according to UPFA sources.

Working together

Intervening, Kumaratunga had advised to work together and to learn from the JVP of what the SLFP lacked and to improve. "It is your efficiency and experience that would be pitted against their novelty and the freshness of approach. So, show that you can deliver. As constituent parties, they have their needs and we have ours, but now that we are a team, work together we must," she had insisted.

Meanwhile, with the CWC bargaining for two key portfolios in the government to lend its support, was baffled by the silent withdrawal by Ports and Aviation Minister Mangala Samaraweera from the role of facilitator.

Accommodating the CWC to secure a parliamentary majority would require the government to have a quick reshuffle, hand over two important ministries and most of all - to compromise on vital pledges made to the public from the UPFA platform just two months ago. Samaraweera who met up with Thondaman to plant the first seeds of supporting the UPFA just weeks ago and wooed him at a dinner is currently maintaining a low profile as the CWC is setting its eyes on his own portfolio.

The CWC had demanded the portfolios of Civil Aviation along with Hemasiri Fernando as its secretary and Estate Infrastructure. In addition to portfolios, the CWC, naturally watching minority political interests sought an undertaking from the President that both the executive presidency and the proportional representation system would not be scrapped and that the Upper Kotmale hydropower project would be immediately halted - all for their willingness to make the UPFA a government with a simple majority in parliament.

The talks finally collapsed on Friday and Thondaman informed Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe he will not cross the floor of the House.

Achievement

However, a senior government member stressed that there were within the CWC as in the case of the SLMC, members who were willing to work with the government.

"We really need not worry over numbers anymore," he said confidently.

While the entire scenario unfolds itself, it is the rhetoric filled Marxists who are caught in the UPFA's survival dilemma. Having opposed the increase in the cabinet, the JVP has now decided not to air a whimper of protest over the portfolio offer to the CWC.

Which also brings us to the next question of the concept of collective responsibility, in case the JVP prefers to treat it as non-existent.

For the first time, the Sri Lankan populace has decided to install the JVP in a governing coalition, a great achievement for a 33-year-old revolutionary political force that even had to remain underground from time to time.

While ginger group behaviour is possible for backbenchers we also accept constituent parties to thrash out issues and to redirect the course of a government. But by doing so, there cannot be convenient backtracking as they did with the move to increase the cabinet ministers to 38. There cannot be public whip cracking whilst continuing to enjoy the perks and privileges accorded to them for being part of the status quo. Merely airing opposition cannot make them heroes, but action should follow.

The Marxists should bear in mind, they are no longer the red-cap clad slogan shouting crusaders in opposition giving vent to feelings, but a responsible constituent partner of a coalition government, which binds them irrevocably to the decisions made and are in the making. 

More Stories....